Feed mechanism for induction heating apparatus



Jan. 23, 1951 H. A. STRICKLAND, JR 7 FEED MECHANISM FOR INDUCTIONHEATiNG APPARATUS Filed Jan. 22, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \u III-III. l

ATTORNEY Jan. 23, 1951 H. A. STRICKLAND, JR 2,533,807

FEED MECHANISM FOR INDUCTION HEATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 22, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet .2

INVENTOR ORNEY Harold HScrLcHandJr.

Patented Jan. 23, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT orr es 2,538,807 FEEDMECHANISM FOR INDUCTION HEATING APPARATUS HaroldA. Strickland, J r.,Detroit, Mich, assignor, liy mesneassignments, tcThe Ohio'Crankshaft'Company; Cleveland, Ohio, a. corporation of- Ohio AppIicati-onzJanuaryZZ, 19.4.6; Serial-No. 642,694:

Thisinvention. relates-toinduction heating ap- ;g azatus of. the.- typehaving progressive feeding mechanism, withspecialv reference to the-modeoii'actuationof. an inductor headf-orming a: part or the. apparatus.

An important object of the invention is to provide a. teedmechanism for.inductor units which may be. moved-rapidly into heating positionvandthen relatively slowly moved: in relation tothe workpiece: to. secureprogressive heating thereof.

.Another obiect of .the invention-dates provideiin conjunctionwiththedinear movement of. the ineductor a rotational movementsimultaneously therewith.

An associated object is to-provide reciprocation and. rotation. in an;inductor headwhich may, be carried on either simultaneously orinsequenaa.

Still. another objectof theinventiom is toprovidevsimplifiedmeansofassociation with apower source of an inductor supportsusceptible to both.

linear and rotational movement and slow and fast linearmovementwithout-disturbance. of the connecting means to-thepower-source.

An objectalsois-the provision-ofmeans forpreventing. transmission ofreverse power-to-the mae terial from. the movable inductor unit.

A general object-of the invention. isto provide simplified means: fortransmissionrofi power from the power sourceto theinductor head whichwill include variationscinrectilinear motion.

In the. drawing:

Figure. l is an elevation,,.partly in. section, .illustrat'ing. the.relative position of the-inductor unit to the power mechanism;

Figure. 2..is. anelevational view. takenalonglines 2I''2 of Figure 1';

Eigure 3. isaplanview. insection-of the apparatus takenalonglinesfl-totFigure 1-;

Figure. 4 is an. enlarged detail. showing. the

.transmission:mechanism-and clutches employed in Ithisapparatus andEigure 5.-is aiwiringdiagram..

The inductor unit is. mounted upon abase. I fromwhich extendsupwardly acasing. 2. adapted to contain the power mechanism and arbor for supportof the inductor unit. Arecessfi-is pro..-

vided. in; the 1 casings adjacent the. base: and at a median pointalongflone. edg-eof the same for reception of a workpiece, suchas-thetubular workpiece. 4. as showninEigure 1; The. arbor. 5 sup.- portingthe inductor. head. 6. is. positioned directly above the. recess andisadaptedfor reciprocat'ion to. bring the head 6 within the space. ofthe recess, and. within the. workpiece for. heating thereon. The arbor'5. is provided. with a lower guide 1 mounted on =.an..intermediatepartition support plate. 8'. inthe casing. and upper. supporting. meansfixedly. attached to .aframe. 9. which. is adapted for movement. on theguide rods ill and Ifthrough the. edge tubing. [2 and I314 Integralwith. this. frame .isabracket MI for. support of. an electricmotor. I15.Thismotoris provided for rotation-of. thezarber iiiby means of. pulleysIE and I1 and pulley belt l8.

Reciprecation oi the. frame; 9 accomplished bymeans, of. fluid, motors.[9i and. 26 which take the form. of. extended tubular casings 2i and 22within. which. pistonshaving rods 23a and: 24 have movementlthrough. thebase ends of. the casings. Fluid. power issuppliedthrough the variousports in. thesev casings. as. indicated. by the numeral 25. Inoperation,on supply, of ressure to the upper ports the .pistonsiare imovedoutwardly and. downwardly. a-nd throughdirect. connection by. means of.the. piston-rods 23 and 24 to. the-frame tubing 12am. 1 3. bymeans of.thelugs 2s. and. 2!- the frameis carried downwardly carrying with it thearbor 5. with rtheeattacheddnductor head 6...

The actionof the reciprocating. motors isprimarilyto.produce-aedownwardmovement of the frame. whichis. relatively rapid sothat the inductor head 6 may bequickly broughtinto the lowermostposition adjacent the workpiece in preparation-for arelatively slowupward movement-withheatenergization. The upwardmovementis.accomplished-bymeansof the motor 36, shownatthe lei-tor.-Figure 1, within the casing and mounted onrthetransverse supportplate-8. In the preferred method of operationthere-is utilizedinconjunction withsthismotor a variable speed reductiondrive3-lwhich, asindicated, may be placeddirectly beneath-themotor as an intermediatesupport thereof'. Any desiredispeeds may beused; values found desirablebeing approxi- .mately- 180.0 Rs-P': M. for the-motor and 0 to 1000 forthespeed reduction drive. The power transmission between these two unitis bymeans of the pulley belttz operatively engaging'pulleys 33 and- 34attached respectively to the shafts of the motor andthereduction driveunit.

Thereisprovidedonione face of theirame 9 two. projectinglugs. 35. and-36 which form the attachmentmeans for a drive sprocket chain 31. One.end of this chainis fixedto the lug 35 and the other end islyielda'blyattached to. the lug 36 by means of a spring 38. enclosing a rod.movable throughan openingin the lug. The chain passes over a guidesprocketwheel 39. attached to the top of'the casing, 2.. approximately.directly above the 111,935. and in juxtapositionto the. guide rods 49iii freely rotatable upon its support; the sprocket.

wheel 40 is mounted on a shaft projecting from a worm wheel within thegear speed reducer M. The worm wheel has connection to a worm shaftwhich extends from within the speed reducer externally thereof to and inalignment with the mating shaft of the variable speed drive unit 3i.

Connection between these mating shaft units is obtained by means of thecoupler unit 42, as shown in enlarged form in Figure 4. This couplerincludes friction elements 43 normally coacting under pressure and anactuating device 44 including the fixed pivot arm 45, the pivoted leverarm 45, and the clutch element 41, to which the arm 46 is attached.Power is applied to the end of the operating lever 46 opposite from thepivot point by means of a fluid motor 49, with its associated pistonmovable on pressure supplied through the conduit 48 to relieve pressureon the clutch 43. The motor 49 is preferably pivotally mounted on asupport attached to the base of the speed reducer unit.

It is apparent that by the interposition of the worm gear speed reducer,which may have a ratio, for example, of 40 to 1, power may betransmitted in one direction only between the motor and the arborsupport frame 9, and consequently although the motor may operate toelevate the frame desired, on cessation of motor effort the weight ofthe frame will not bring about a reverse movement of the drivingconnection and motor.

Energy supply for the inductor unit 6 is secured from external sourcesof alternating current properly transformed and led through bus bars 55with parallel connection to the capacitor unit 55, as indicated inFigures 3 and 5, leading to an electrical distributing unit (not shown)and to the inductor arbor and head 6. In Figure 5 the main details ofthe circuit are indicated, current being supplied from a source 51 to atransformer 58 through a contactor control or timer unit 59.

The fluid pressure for clutch motor 49 and frame motors 2| and 22 ispreferably common so that on movement of the frame the clutch is forcedto open position. Release of pressure results in closure of the clutchby spring or similar mechanism.

In the operation of the apparatus, assuming the frame 8 with itssupported arbor and inductor head at the upper limit of possiblemovement within the casing 2, the workpiece is placed within the recess3 upon the base I in position to receive the inductor head. The operatorthen supplies fluid pressure to the fluid motors l9 and 2D bringingabout a rapid downward movement of the inductor head within theworkpiece to the lowermost point at which heat is to be applied.Quenching flow is then released at the base of the head and the circuitwith the power source completed to the inductorhead and. the motor 45.Pressure on the fluid motors l9 and is then released accompanied byrelease of pressure in the fluid motor 49. While these two motor unitsare connected to the same source of fluid pressure so that the action ofthe two may be simultaneous, it is understood that activation insequence may be utilized. The release of pressure in the motor 49permits the spring mechanism in the clutch to bring about a frictionalengagement of the same as between the worm gear speed reducer 4| and thevariable speed drive 3|, and since the motor 38 is constantly inoperation power is immediately applied to the sprocket wheel 40 of thereducer 41 to cause movement of the chain 31 and a relatively slowupward movement of the frame with its attached inductor head 5. Thismovement with its accompanying heating and quenching of the workpiececontinues until the inductor head clears the workpiece as controlled bya timer previously set for the operation,' at which time pressure issupplied the fluid motor 49 to bring about release of the clutch.Pressure is simultaneously applied to the fluid motors 2| and 22 to liftthe inductor rapidly above the workpiece in position for insertion of anew unit. The workpiece may then be removed and a new workpiecesubstituted for a single heat treatment.

From the above it appears that the action of the apparatus is to movethe inductor head rapidly in position with reference to the workpieceand then to move the head slowly while the heat treatment proceeds untilthe treatment is com pleted, while simultaneously rotating the inductorby means of the auxiliary motor 15.

The apparatus lends itself to application both as to the mechanism forinitiating power movement and for the transmitting elements, and henceno restriction is intended by the specific showing, the scope of theinvention being determined by the claims hereto appended.

What is claimed is:

1. In heat treating apparatus comprising two elements having relativeaxial movement with respect to each other and out of physical contactwith each other, the one carrying a heating device and the othercarrying a workpiece to be heated, the improvement which comprises afirst motive means for moving one of said elements rapidly for a fulllength stroke in one direction and for a part of the length of thestroke in the other direction, the part stroke at high speed being thatpart where the heating device is clear of the workpiece, and a secondmotive means for moving one of said elements slowly and at a moreclosely controllable speed for that part of the other stroke in whichthe heating device is moving along the length of the workpiece.

2. In heat treating apparatus comprising two elements having relativeaxial movement with respect to each other and out of physical contactwith each other, the one carrying a heating device and the othercarrying a workpiece to be heated, the improvement which comprises afirst motive means for moving one of said elements rapidly for a fulllength stroke in one direction and for a part of the length of thestroke in the other direction, the part stroke at high speed being thatpart where the heating device is clear of the workpiece, and a secondmotive means of more accurately controllable speed characteristics thanthe first motive device for moving one of said elements slowly for thatpart of the other stroke in which the heating device is moving along thelength of the workpiece.

3. In heat treating apparatus comprising two elements having relativeaxial movement with respect to each other and out of physical contactwith each other, the one carrying a heating device and the othercarrying a workpiece to be heated, the improvement which comprises afirst motive means for moving one of said elements rapidly for a fulllength stroke in one direction and fora.

part of the length of the stroke in the other di'- rection, the partstroke at high speed being that part where the heating device is clearof the workpiece, and a second motive means of more accuratelycontrollable speed characteristics than the first motive device formoving one of said elements slowly for that part of the other stroke inwhich the heating device is moving along the length of the workpiece,said second motive means being operated continuously and including meansfor placing it in operable control of the moving element during the timein which the heating element and fworkpiece have slow movement relativeto each other.

HAROLD A. STRICKLAND, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Deneen et al Feb. 6, 1945

